As computer technology has advanced the number of computers being used, as well as the tasks these computers are being used to perform, has increased. Accompanying this increased computer usage has been an increase in the interconnectivity of computers. A wide variety of networking devices, such as switches and hubs, have become increasingly commonplace in businesses, educational facilities, and homes. These networking devices allow data to be transferred among the computers that are coupled to the devices, as well as to other devices that are coupled to the network, such as printers, scanners, etc.
Although there are many benefits to interconnecting devices via a network, there are also problems created by networking devices together. One such problem is the wide variety of devices accessible to the user of computer. For example, where the computer user once had a single printer attached to his or her computer, he or she now has multiple networked printers to which he or she can print. While this provides more options to the user, it can also make things difficult for the user because he or she typically must identify which one of the printers to print to. And, while the user typically desires to print to the printer closest to him or her, there is often times little, if any, indication given to the user as to which printer is closest.
One solution to this problem is to have devices named in such a way that their names reflect their locations. For example, printers may be given names that indicate which floor of the building they are on, whose office they are close to, and so on. This solution, however, also has problems which can make is user-unfriendly. Those problems include: the subjective nature of the device naming process, the need for human input into the device naming process, the need to rename a device if the device is moved, and the need for a user of a computing device to understand locations reflected in the names (for example, if the device name reflects that the device is close to Bob's office, then the user needs to know the location of Bob's office).
Thus, a need exists for a more user-friendly way in which to identify devices on a network that are nearby a particular computer (or other device).